Private Exempt Companies

By virtue of the amendment to Article 211 of the Companies Act, the previous condition that a private limited liability company could not be private exempt, if it had a corporate entity as a shareholder (unless such corporate entity was also private exempt) has been removed.

The Maltese company

This amendment is important in the sense that now a Maltese company having a corporate entity, whether resident or non-resident, as a shareholder, may be registered as a single-member private exempt company.

The only conditions that must be adhered to in order for a company with a corporate shareholder/s to be registered as private exempt, whether as a single-member company or otherwise, are the following:

(a)that the number of persons holding debentures of the company is not more than fifty; and

(b)that no body corporate is a director of the company, and neither the company nor any of the directors is party to an arrangement whereby the policy of the company is capable of being determined by persons other than the directors, members or debenture holders thereof.

Corporate structures offered by corporate service providers

Pursuant to the introduction of the above-mentioned amendment, a variety of corporate structures may be offered by corporate service providers and clients’ needs may be further accommodated and facilitated.